April Austerity - Fallout 3

I'm definitely watching my cash now.  It's not that I was really *that frivilous with the stuff in the first place, but I am now on the equivalent of the state pension, which is paid to me by the teacher pension lot and I have a huge mortgage which is not covered by this!

So, to try and make sure the pot does not sink too fast it's now Eve vs. Tosca: in May for example, Tosca has supplied me with £220.36 worth of goods - food, toiletries, washing powder, cat litter etc etc.  I gave them £122.15.  My best shop was around £73; I paid about £25 for it. Another good one was about £50, down to £28. Huzzah.

I do this with a combination of strategies:

1. My glitch trick - next date for a good change over to new ½ price goods is 03/06.  I try not to do this *too often, I don't want them banning me ;) And if there isn't enough of what I want, I don't do it, just because I can ;p
2. Vouchers and coupons I find in free magazines, and online
3. Using these coupons against deals in the shop - for example, I use Johnsons Baby Bath, because my skin is so delicate.  It's £2.76 in Tosca.  It's currently ½ price = £1.38.  I used my three email addresses and printed off three £1.00 voucher.  I bought three bottles for 38p each!
4. I always rummage through the reduced sections and find things to freeze - seeded bread?  I haven't a hope of eating a loaf in a week, but I'd rather pay 60p for a loaf at 6pm, than £1.40 for it at 3pm.  Pick your shopping times.  
5. I ring up and moan like billio, at the slightest thing.  Last night I realised the dark chocolate has whey powder in the ingredients list on the packs I was sent.  It's not on the ingredients list on their site.  I shall ring and create havoc.  They'll send a gift card.  It was £1.20 worth of choclate, shall I aim for £5.00?
6. Because I have a Tosca credit card, I do all my shopping with it.  I earn points for everything I buy - in their shop, for their petrol and on every other purchase.  I may as well get a few more pennies back in coupons from them, for this!
7. I womble vouchers.  I've only been doing this for a few months.  I must have picked up £15 worth of free money that way.
8. I know exactly what is in my stockpile, in Narnia (cupboard that goes on forever), so I have a list of things I am targeting for special offers and the Tosca glitch.  I don't need to buy any household cleaning, or personal care items for about two years and what I have bought has all been paid for at knock-down prices.
9. I don't pay full price, if I can help it.  I'm fast coming round to the idea that ½ price is the right price and every penny after is profit.
10. I don't buy anything I don't use
11. I don't use a coupon to buy something, if it is not something I would use - just because it's a bargain, does not make it a bargain if you don't want it.  There's no point me printing off three vouchers for bisuits, if I am not eating them...

Actually, if you want to know how well this is going for me, look at these figures:

Actual shopping costs Jan-May - £872.36

Amount I have paid to Tosca -  £529.30

If Tosca goes under, I'll change my name and address.

April Austerity - Fallout 2

I really don't like cheap meat.  It's not just the taste, it's everything about the stuff.  It's not just an issue with animal welfare either.  The whole farming and food industry seems completely arse-about-face.  I do think all animals deserve a first rate quality of life, but especially so if they are ending up on our dinner plates - kindness costs little.  

Yes, I am an omnivore; I come from an Aussie family.  When mum was growing up on a farm, the animals had space, they roamed and dispatching one for dinner wasn't anywhere as inhumane as the intensive farming, shove it in a van, drive it 10hrs down the road and kill it routine that we have these days.  Slaughter on site? Would that be feasible in the UK?  or at least with in a short distance of the animal's 'home', so it doesn't have to suffer that stress and indignity.  Hmmmm.

After the animal has been dispatched, have you considered how we consume the meat?  There is no surprise that we are putting on weight and heading for a disaster zone in the UK.  The protein portion seems to have swapped places with the veg on our plates.  We used to eat predominantly veg, with a meat side.  Now you're lucky if you can see the vegetables using a microscope.  A portion of meat is the size and thickness of the palm of your hand - most omnis eat 2-3x this suggested allocation.  On my shoddy April diet, my meat intake spilled over into many, many meals, because of *that soup.  Normally, I eat meat/fish twice a week - although that's going to be harder with the whole soya/lentil/bean/dairy issue...  

So, a quick recap: bad farming, and an huge increase in protein and a drop in vegetable consumption is where we are at the moment.  Then...If you wander into any supermarket, 85% of the food on sale on there is just not food.  Ok, Ok, you can shove it in your mouth, chew on it and it'll taste great and fill a hole.  Who doesn't like a big, fat, greasy pizza?  But what is it doing to your insides?    Are you eating that, and the chocolates, crisps and cheese covered toast everyday?  Everything seems to be processed, packaged up, sent to another company, reprocessed and repacked and turned into something so alien from its original shape, colour, taste and texture that the original plant, or animal wouldn't recognise itself.  Cheese Strings?  I'm sorry, but WTF??!!  Do I eat them, or do I tie my shoes up with them?  I try very hard not to buy things in packets.  The crisps, biscuits, cakes, prepared meals etc etc are all gone - those ginger nuts with unpronounceable additives put me off.

On top of that, I am fast coming around to the idea that there is absolutely not one right diet for everyone.  I have friends who are wheat intolerant, lactose intolerant, glucose intolerant, meat averse, animal product averse, and a whole gamut of other intolerance/allergies/dislikes.  I personally can not go near grapefruit or pomegranate (no, I can't just pick bits off - what about the juice?).  I also  can't eat undercooked meat, any shellfish, undercooked egg (mayo, hollandaise sauce etc), soya (I don't tend to worry if there is a scratch of it in the packet, but don't offer me it in any bulk version (tofu, tempeh, soy, soya, miso).  I'm not supposed to eat from buffets (how long has it been sat there?), or have cold food which I have not prepared - no salads at restaurants, or at friends' houses - it's ok, I do trust you all enough to wash a lettuce leaf...and seeing as my food life is confusing enough, I tend to ignore the 'no salad' rule, based on using my eyes, knowledge of the establishment and a good old fashioned sniff-test!  I'm not supposed to have any pro-biotic stuff either.  Oh and now I remember, mushrooms only occasionally as they (like the soy) can set off gout attacks. Ouch.

So where does this leave me?  Trying to balance my wallet against the thought that I really should only be supporting organic farm produce.  I'm vaguely toying with the idea of going vegan for a couple of months - I bet most of you didn't see that coming.  It may give my body a chance to resettle the blood sugar question (there is some evidence for that).  I'm also fairly certain that the veggie/vegan friends will be rooting for the animal welfare side of things.    But then again, I am pretty certain that my transplant team will have a fit, if I decided to do this permanently.  I can't eat soya and I have to keep my consumption of 'staple' vegan foods down: beans, peas and lentils all contain Phosphorous, which can quicken my kidney damage (I only have 35% function left).  I also then have a lot of expensive cat food in the freezer (salmon!) - Harvey will be delighted :p

I think that ultimately, I'd have to keep the butter (Transplants at Harefield are not usually given margarine) for baking.  I'll probably have to have either fish or meat twice a week and I can see myself being told to maintain eggs.  However it pans out, I'd like to reduce my 'footfall' in terms of my agricultural/animal impact.

Watch this space.

April Austerity - Fallout 1

So, it's been a few weeks since I have actually written anything, largely because essays have been cramping my style at uni and also because I needed a break from talking and thinking about food all day and every day, except that I haven't had a break at all.

Things are definitely playing on my mind regarding my health. My blood sugar level has always been a bit  up and down over the last 7-8 years, but my start point every day used to be 5, it rose to 11 and then back to 5 in the morning.  It's the change to higher figures I am worried about and it was going up in April - until the monitor decided it wasn't playing ball any more.

After much kerfuffle I finally managed to sort out my blood sugar monitor and all the failing/missing components needed for regular glucose monitoring and started out agreeing with Harefield that it was far to high: first thing in the morning my fasting bloods were running between 8 and 11.  Eeep.  They'd climb and fall each day to about 15-16 and then back down to about 8-11 the following morning.  Eeep - again.

So, yes, back on the food train of thought again...oooh trains...oooh steam trains...oooh Whitby...oooh Dracula (yes, I am easily distracted): Food to Goth in four steps.  And now you have some idea of how my mind works EVERY SINGLE MINUTE I AM AWAKE (and trying to sleep).

Potatoes have often caused me issues in the past, when I have been on high dosages of steroids, so I relegated them to treat status.  My blood sugar came down a bit.  Happier.

Then I decided to look at the various sugars I have been consuming, to see if one variety was more damning than another.  It's become clear, if I eat fruit, without something with it (nuts, oats, or after a slice of seeded wholegrain toast, etc) then my level rockets back up again.  Approach fruit with caution.  I have long said fruit juice was not a healthy option.  Yes, I like nothing more than a J20 Orange and Passionfruit drink, but I think the day where I hoof one back is probably well and truly over: they contain no fat (yes, you need fat), no fibre and a truck load of sugar.  I'll eat the orange, just not drink the juice.

And then the shocker...dairy.  I started monitoring my glucose level after my teas and coffee; every time I had a cuppa my glucose gained two points.  I've been dairy free for four days now and my morning level has been under 7 on each occasion; twice hitting about 5.  Coffee and tea without milk is an easy change for me to make and I can play about with the various non-dairy milks for cooking and for throwing over cereals each morning.  No. Not soya.  I have to avoid soya.  I'm going to put dairy back in my diet in a few days, just to see if I get the expected rise.  I need to be certain.

On the plus side; rather bizarrely, on the day I scarfed down a slab of cake, a four finger kitkat and a fizzy drink, my glucose levels were a bit high, but no where nearly as high as they had been on the fruit!  Oh well, you win some and you lose some.